The dosemu HOWTO

by Mike Deisher.

Updated by Uwe Bonnes for dosemu-0.64.4, 15 March 1997

Updated by David Hodges, davidhodges@altavista.net For dosemu-0.98.8, 24 April 1999

1. The preliminaries

• 1.1 What is dosemu, anyway?
• 1.2 What operating systems does dosemu work under ?
• 1.3 What processors does dosemu work on ?
• 1.4 What if I have an Alpha/Sparc/Motorola/other non-Intel CPU ?
• 1.5 Do I need MS-DOS to use dosemu ?
• 1.6 Can I run Microsoft Windows programs under dosemu ?
• 1.7 I want to run something that won't run under DOSemu or Wine
• 1.8 Names and numbers
• 1.9 What version of Dosemu should I use?
• 1.10 What's the newest version of dosemu and where can I get it?
• 1.11 Where can I ask questions?
• 1.12 Where can I report bugs and ask questions?
• 1.13 What documentation is available for dosemu?
• 1.14 I have a program that fails, not listed in EMUfailure.txt
• 1.15 How do I submit changes or additions to the HOWTO?
• 1.16 Message from Greg...

2. Compiling and installing dosemu

• 2.1 Where are the installation instructions?
• 2.2 Top ten problems while compiling and installing dosemu.
• 2.3 How do I make aout binaries?
• 2.4 How do I compile dosemu on a machine with low memory?
• 2.5 Compilation fails with some strange error regarding "slang"
• 2.6 What configurable options are available ?
• 2.7 Do I need to run dosemu as root?
• 2.8 How do I patch dosemu ?
• 2.9 What versions of DOS are known to run with dosemu ?

3. Hard disk setup

• 3.1 How do I use my hard disk with dosemu?
• 3.2 How can I access the hdimage from Linux?
• 3.3 Can I use my stacked/double-spaced/super-stored disk?
• 3.4 Creating your own hdimage file.

4. Parallel ports, serial ports and mice

• 4.1 Port access worked with older version, but doesn't work now!
• 4.2 Port access was faster with older versions!
• 4.3 Where are the (microsoft compatible) mouse drivers?
• 4.4 Why doesn't the mouse driver work?
• 4.5 Why does dosemu clobber COM4?
• 4.6 How do I use dosemu over the serial ports?
• 4.7 How can I switch between dosemu and a shell over the serial line?
• 4.8 How can I get the parallel ports to work?

5. Multiple users and Non-interactive sessions

• 5.1 Can I use dosemu on a multi-user system?
• 5.2 How can I run dos commands non-interactively?

6. dosemu and Netware

• 6.1 How do I get Netware access from dosemu?

7. dosemu and X-windows(97/2/9).

• 7.1 Can I run dosemu in console mode while running X?
• 7.2 Is it possible to run dosemu in a window in X-windows?
• 7.3 Xdos dosen't work on a remote X-display!
• 7.4 Xdos dosen't find the VGA font
• 7.5 The vga font is very small on my high resolution display
• 7.6 Dosemu compilation fails with some strange error regarding X!
• 7.7 Does ansi emulation work properly?

8. dosemu and MS-Windows 3.1

• 8.1 Is it possible to run MS-Windows 3.1 under dosemu?
• 8.2 Can I run 32bit stuff with winemu
• 8.3 Errormessage: Cannot find the vdtapi.386 file when starting dosemu
• 8.4 Windows 3.x in xdos:
• 8.5 Can I install windows from within dosemu?
• 8.6 Notes for the mouse under win31-in-xdos:
• 8.7 Why did my Icon disappear from the Program manager?

9. Video and sound

• 9.1 Can I run 32-bit video games under dosemu?
• 9.2 Exiting from dosemu gives me a screen full of garbage.
• 9.3 Why doesn't my soundcard software work with dosemu?

10. Games

• 10.1 Duke3d dosen't work

11. Problems and fixes

• 11.1 Security issues
• 11.2 dosemu says "ERROR: general protection" and terminates when I run some program
• 11.3 Dosemu dies when booting. I have Win95 installed.
• 11.4 Dosemu hangs! How can I kill it?
• 11.5 Dosemu crashed and now I can't type anything.
• 11.6 I've enabled EMS memory in dosemu.conf but it does not help.
• 11.7 How do I get rid of all those annoying "disk change" messages?
• 11.8 Why won't dosemu run a second time after exiting in console mode?
• 11.9 Why will dosemu run in a term but not in the console?
• 11.10 How can I speed up dosemu?
• 11.11 My CDROM drive has problems reading some files under dosemu.
• 11.12 How do I see debugging output?
• 11.13 Why are my keystrokes echoed ttwwiiccee??
• 11.14 Dosemu scrambles my screen?
• 11.15 MS FoxPro 2.6 won't run

12. Contributing to the dosemu project

• 12.1 Who is responsible for dosemu?
• 12.2 I want to help. Who should I contact?